The Biography of a Benevolent Nogitsune
by Kitaen Silva
Summary: Follow the life and times of an anomalous kitsune, from the time he is born, through his desperate flight across Japan with Buddhist practitioners hot on his heels at every step, and his misadventures in Gensokyo where he starts making friends and forging relationships. What will he do when world-ending danger rears itself after he's finally settled in and begun a happy life?
1. Preface

This is a tale of many things, from adventure and action, to politics and war, with matters like friendships, rivalries, and romance caught in the middle. It tells the story of the third life lived by the proud nogitsune bearing the name of Kitaen Vallaus-Riviern'kirsa Fauxlorin Silva, the one carrying titles like "The Gravedigging Merchant of Sentiments" and "The Alice of the Spade". His first life is a fable for another time, and his second life was as an average Russian lumberjack with no noteworthy narrative, so for this story we shall focus on the life he lived as a mischievous nogitsune. We shall follow his tale as he travels Japan and establishes a home in Gensokyo - we shall continue to follow it as he accidentally creates the realm of Reitochi, and we shall investigate the bonds he creates with people along the way, some of which you are familiar with, and many of which whom you are not. Before we begin though, it seems that there are a few questions that should be addressed before we dive into this tale.

For starters… What is Gensokyo?

Gensokyo is a wonderful land filled to overflowing with gods, goddesses, mythical creatures, fairies, magic, and people, but it wasn't always defined so endearingly and reverently. It used to be a bleak place haunted by an abundance of youkai. The term "youkai" can be applied to anything that could be considered a supernatural being or legend, from any culture's history and mythos - anything from bugbears and werewolves, angels and demons, vampires and devils, elves and dwarves, yamabiko and amanojaku, gods and goddesses, even historical figures touted as having powers or exceptional capabilities, such as the Jewish figure identified as "Jesus" or the legendary Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto could all be construed as youkai. Many such beings are deemed inherently dangerous to humans, and the ones native to Gensokyo had grown fond of terrorizing those living in the surrounding lands. Youkai are deemed inherently dangerous to humans in the first place, so powerful and heroic humans were sent to exorcise and exterminate them to the best of their ability - intermittent wars and battles between humans and youkai were waged until the rather specific year of 1885, coinciding with the Treaty of Hanseong between Japan and Korea. On this year, as a response to the rapid growth of technology and the steady decline of belief in youkai, the Great Hakurei Barrier was created, magically sealing away the entire region of Gensokyo, locking everyone both in and out of the land. Everyone inside Gensokyo - including a single, small village of humans that had developed in a valley near the base of Mount Yatsugatake - was sealed inside, and everyone outside was locked out, inexplicably unaware of it's presence or that it was ever there to begin with. This was presumably done as an act of preservation, and by the combined, collaborative efforts of both powerful humans and powerful youkai.

And what about Reitochi?

Well, this one is much more difficult to explain, really. Let's start with the name given to the realm by Kitaen - in Japanese, "Reitochi" is put to paper as "霊土地", written with the kanji for "spirit" and "plot of land", so in English it could be taken to mean something like "Ghost-property" or "Spiritland". Not even we know what exactly it is just yet, but near as we can tell, Reitochi is a realm that is effectively the entirety of space beyond the perception of "known universes". It is the unknown beyond the borders of any given universe, and is the space between universes as well. All possible universes effectively exist within the realm of Reitochi as bubble-like entities that drift, expand, and go about their usual business very slowly. It predates the hypothetical "Big Bang" proposed by modern-day human science, and has been home to the birth and death of universes numbering well beyond a googolplex. It is and always has been, and will continue forevermore. However, until Kitaen accessed it via unusual means not fully understood and observed, it was literal nothingness. It was a void, absent of even the base forms of matter or particle, and lacking all concepts understood by the human mind. There was no light, there was no sound, there were no fundamental laws of nature. It was Void beyond the capacity for humankind to comprehend in the young species' current state. And then suddenly, it wasn't. In the span of a split instant through the hypothetical perspective of the Void, it was no longer void, but a thing unto itself - it had become Reitochi. This process took nearly a thousand years, and yet it was but a blink to what had been the Void. In one sense, you could consider Reitochi to be the all-encompassing space in which we exist, being the "universe that contains the universes", as it were. In another perspective, it is just a tiny pocket dimension with unusual circumstances. We shall share in Kitaen's experiences with accessing this place later in the tale, and see his discoveries as he experiments and researches the subject.

Well, what about a "nogitsune"? I haven't heard of those before, what are they?

Maybe you're more familiar with the term "kitsune" instead - in both cases, they are a type of youkai or spirit entity. Specifically, they are fox spirits believed to possess superior intelligence, incredibly long life, and magical powers. However, even though they are considered to be youkai or spirits, they are not like ghosts - in fact, in most cases they are indifferent from normal foxes even to a base level. There are many different kinds of fox spirits - "kitsune" is more or less a general term that is applied to all fox spirits - such as the divine Zenko kitsune directly associated with the god Inari. Almost the polar opposite of the heavenly Zenko, you have the malicious Akuko kitsune - they thrive on heinous deeds and negative emotions, often caused by the Akuko themselves, and are not shy of wonton destruction and killing. Akuko are very strong and powerful - even though they lack the divine power and some of the abilities of the Zenko, their strength and destructive power more than makes up for it, making them a formidable force that is often countered directly by the Zenko in efforts to maintain balance. Like the Akuko, there is another type of kitsune which is known to make life miserable for humans, and that is the Yako kitsune, which are also known as Nogitsune. They thrive more on general mischief than outright evil, but have the ability to become Akuko if they put too much focus on gaining strength and power. There are also the Ninko, which are invisible foxes that are only perceived by humans who are troubled by "kitsunetsuki", or the state of being possessed by a fox. There are also thirteen similar types of kitsune that are classified based upon what sort of powers or abilities the kitsune possesses.

All types of kitsune place a lot of importance upon their longevity - the older they get, the wiser and more powerful they become, and the more their abilities deepen. At their first 100 years of life, they acquire the ability to shapeshift by placing reeds, a broad leaf, or a skull over it's head. Every 100 years after that, a kitsune gains an additional tail, and stories tell of kitsune whom have lived long enough to have nine tails. Such kitsune are of a special variety - when they have gained their ninth tail, they are from then on known as "Kyuubi". For the blessed Zenko kitsune, their fur becomes white or gold and they gain infinite wisdom in addition to the ability to see and hear anything happening anywhere in the world. Like any other youkai, kitsune are immortal - the only way to contend with them is to seal them away, or slay them with a spiritual weapon or object.

You may be wondering other things as well, but the rest will be explained as we follow the tale, so let's begin this story properly - to do that, we will direct our attention more than a thousand years into the past, to a point in time briefly before Kitaen began his life in Japan…


	2. How the Slacker was Born

This being known as Kitaen Silva - as far as who he is and comes to be over the course of this tale - is an anomaly caused by an ancient organization of powerful beings with direct influence over and dealings with the afterlife and related processes. This organization is the precursor to what is now known as "The Ministry of What's Right and What's Wrong", and at the time, this organization was known simply by the structure in which most processes of the afterlife take place; "The Courts of the Yama". The individuals whom worked here were collectively referred to as the "ministry" even back then, but it was not yet their formal name as an organization. In these times, there were comparatively fewer humans, so when matters such as the cycle of spiritual transmigration or reincarnation - which took place here - were blessed to be carried out with excellent reliability.

The ministry of the time had a policy in place where the souls or "reikon" of the deceased must receive ten separate judgements by the Ten Kings of Jigoku. The first seven days after death are for the trial overseen by King Shinko; the next seven days after death are overseen by King Shoko; the next set of seven days are overseen by King Sotei; the next seven are overseen by King Gokan; the next seven are overseen by King Enma; the next seven are overseen by King Henjo; and the next seven are overseen by King Daizan. After forty-nine days, the reikon of the deceased leaves this world for their final three judgements - the first at one hundred days after death, conducted by King Hyodo, then next at the first anniversary of death, conducted by King Toshi, and the final one at the third anniversary of death, conducted by High King Godoo. Unlike what you might expect, passing only one of these Kings' judgements successfully meant that the judged individual could enjoy a pleasant next life.

However, as the number of humans increased gradually over time, the judges found that they simply couldn't keep up - people's reikon were flowing in at such a pace that the Courts had become crowded, and queues were forming that extended through much of the places preceding the Courts. Higan - which was a Pure Land on the far side of the River Sanzu where dead souls wait silently and contemplated their deaths while waiting for the Ten Kings to make their judgements - was starting to see thick quantities of reikon, and they were becoming very restless. Seeing this, and growing concerned for the uncertain problems that might arise if things were left as they were, the Ten Kings called upon the most powerful of Yama at the time so that they may assist the Ten Kings in reducing the number of pending trials by as much as possible. The Yama are also gods of death, so this unification would benefit both the Ten Kings and the Yama with a boost to efficiency in their duties. This resolved the shortage of personnel, but as an additional measure, efforts were made to contact Jizou - ascendant and enlightened monks - from all over Japan. They selected ones whom were interested in serving as Yama, and gathered them in the Courts for orientation before entrusting them with the duties of judging the deceased at each Jizou's location of origin. This action has regained and maintained the reliability once produced by the Ten Kings, and the system using Yama and Jizou in addition to the Ten Kings is still used in much of today's policies found throughout the Ministry of What's Right and What's Wrong.

The problem that was encountered by the Courts of the Yama when it came time to process the case of the recently-deceased Kitaen was that he was the first non-human raikon to enter the Courts. He wasn't human in the slightest, but at the same time he wasn't a youkai or yousei, and he wasn't some other such apparition that they might have been familiar with - rather, he was a strange, fox-like being from another galaxy entirely, whom identified himself as something called an "Aleurian". He had already lived for well over a thousand years as an Aleurian before being slain on Earth, having been mistaken as a malicious kitsune by a village of humans shortly after his arrival on the world following an interstellar expedition. The system was tailored to handle the souls of humans, not those of other entities like youkai, yousei, or foreign entities such as he, and especially given the fact that each case was handled according to location, the Courts of the Yama were brought almost to a standstill while deliberating over his case./p  
p align="center"His very presence was unprecedented in many ways, so they were stumbling through proceedings, but they pushed through his case as best as their current policies could allow, and started measures to accommodate for potential future cases where non-human raikon would end up in the Courts. It was found that they couldn't send his spirit back to his homeworld, as such raw power as would be needed for the task simply wasn't available at the time. His individual judgements were arduous and the source of much debate and strife amongst the ministry, with remarkably little agreement between the individuals of the Courts, but despite this he successfully passed just under half of his ten judgements. Borrowing from human policy, since it was the only policy available to follow, he was granted reincarnation and circumstances beneficial for a pleasant life, but he would be reborn as a human.

He was reincarnated as a Russian male, whom lived a fairly average life - raised by two caring parents, suitably educated, living as both a lumberjack and a town blacksmith, eventually marrying and raising three children of his own. He served his country as a conscript, which saw him to Asiatic countries such as China, Vietnam, and Korea. He later retired before growing old with his wife and passing away at 85 from a stroke during a vacation to China, long before he could see his grandchildren.

Due to passing away within the border of China, Kitaen found himself within the realm of Diyu after his death, a realm which was governed and operated in a manner remarkably similar to the Courts of the Yama - in this case, however, the organization was referred to as the Ten Courts of Hell. As with his last visit to such a court, his appearance caused vast amounts of confusion, but his records indicated that he had previously been through the Courts of the Yama, so rather than deal with a perceived troublesome situation, he was removed from Diyu and forcibly thrust into Higan - an event which sparked vast outrage and hostility between the Ten Courts of Hell and the Courts of the Yama. Nevertheless, the Courts of the Yama attempted to process Kitaen. This was his second appearance within the corridors and beneath the vaulted ceilings of the black and white marble courthouses, and due to an unfortunate coincidence, it was almost as troublesome as his previous visit.

His raikon had only taken on a small portion of the human life he had just finished living - somehow, his Aleurian self was still a majority of the predominant features for his raikon, and it altered the appearance of his ghostly form to a strange, fluid combination between human and Aleurian. He now looked like a kitsune poorly trying to fool the Yama and the Kings into thinking he was human, with his fox-like ears and tail in plain view, which wasn't exactly appreciated even after they snuffed out that he wasn't trying to intentionally mislead anyone. In addition to his confusing appearance, the Courts of the Yama had just barely started to agree upon deliberations for implementing policies and methods to process races other than humans, and were in the midst of a trial period for a number of these policies, so it was an extremely frustrating period for the ministry.

The coincidence which caused the most issue, however, was that a nogitsune had expired after being slain by a spiritual weapon, and was the raikon which was supposed to be due in the courts immediately before Kitaen - thanks to Diyu's handling of thrusting him into Higan, it perturbed the order of proceedings, and at one point the raikon of the nogitsune had mistakenly swapped places with Kitaen's raikon in the confusion of it all. It didn't help matters that there were similar circumstances and visual similarities of these two - the nogitsune, trying to get in another bout of mischief, had elected to mimic Kitaen's appearance. It didn't take much effort on the fox's part - the two of them already shared remarkably similar anatomy, what with being bipedal humanoids with fox-like ears and tails, and both of them being non-human entities, so it was child's play for the nogitsune to upset proceedings for a laugh.

In the end, the situation was too troublesome and complicated for the courts to handle appropriately and effectively at the time, so they elected to postpone matters and write the whole mess off. Both the nogitsune and Kitaen were granted reincarnation as usual, but they were given zero improvements or detriments, and no modifiers that would affect how their life played out. As a direct result of the mix-up orchestrated by the nogitsune, the rebirths intended for them were given improperly - Kitaen received what was intended for the nogitsune, and the nogitsune received what was intended for Kitaen, which meant that Kitaen was reborn as a mischievous fox-spirit in the heart of Japan, while the nogitsune was reborn as a Brazilian male.

Perhaps unfortunately for the nogitsune, he fully retained his mischievous nature, but not the immortality he was accustomed to, nor his memories. As a result, he lived his new life as a petty thug until he was killed in his mid-life while trying to steal food from a market. Kitaen, however, retained his memories as both an Aleurian and a Russian human - they were effectively dormant in his mind and lay just out of reach, so he wasn't quite able to recall any of them, but it somewhat counteracted the need for mischief that was expressed and demanded by his new nogitsune body as sustenance.

This marks the birth of Kitaen Silva as he is known for this tale, and it was yet to be seen exactly how he would handle the devilry and mischievousness of his vessel - but before that, adventure awaited him, and unbeknownst to him, so did Gensokyo, and did one amaranthine-eyed, attentive, relatively young individual that had quickly risen the ranks of the ministry. A small, sharp-dressed individual whom had made sure to note the fact that this was Kitaen's second appearance in the Courts of the Yama, and would soon use this occurrence to shape the face of what was to shortly become the Ministry of What's Right and What's Wrong...


	3. One Hundred Years of Village Pampering

As it is known, kitsune are practically indistinguishable from normal foxes for most of their early life, and such was how his life was lived for the first several decades. He was born too early, during the chill of a particularly harsh winter in the woodlands of Nara Prefecture, which brought the death of his mother and siblings after his father had been killed by human hunters for food and fur. Kitaen himself was discovered on the brink of death by a human child and taken back to the village of Ikaruga, where he was nursed to health in the care of the child's parents. This family and their neighbors quickly began to regard Kitaen as a protective spirit, and not knowing any better, he grew to believe these people as being his own family. He grew up trying hard to fit in with his family and fellow villagers, almost as if he mistook himself for being human - he would occasionally attempt walking upright in the presence of family, and he was even known to try helping the farmers in the field. He wasn't very effective with agricultural efforts, but he eventually learned that he was useful with hunting and protecting the village from youkai, scavengers, and miscreants. As he put his abilities to use for his fellow villagers, he found that he had a deep hunger for knowledge, which he would sate by reading scrolls and books after everyone had retired for sleep. With his growing intelligence, his actions to aid the village became more and more conspicuous - his behaviours grew to be very human-like, and he acquired the ability to understand human speech. At night, when not reading, he would wander the village and chase away youkai, which brought good health and prosperity to the people who lived there. During the day, he would sleep while bathing in the sun, often watching the villagers go about their daily work when he was plagued with restlessness.

As the child who rescued him grew and reached adulthood, the villagers had figured out without question that he was a kitsune - he had lived far longer than any fox the villagers knew of, and done many things to protect the village. This prompted the villagers who knew of and appreciated his efforts in the village's favour to build a small, humble shrine to Inari. The villagers mistakenly venerated him as a messenger of Inari, and Kitaen had no real way to confirm or deny this himself, so he hesitantly accepted it as truth - not that he really had a way to convince the villagers otherwise, they reached this conclusion on their own. He was encouraged to reside primarily within the shrine and it's grounds, but he would often return to the home of his rescuer or otherwise roam the village on his usual business. He continued to live at and protect this village long after he was fifty years old - he watched the child who rescued him grow up, fall in love, despair over rejection, work hard in the fields, fall in love again, eventually be wed and have children… all the while, Kitaen lived a pampered lifestyle at and around the Inari Jinja. Eventually his beloved rescuer fell ill and passed away, deep in the winter even as Kitaen kept at the old man's bedside. He was survived by his wife and two daughters, whom he continued to watch over.

The fox never strayed far from Ikaruga - even on hunts with fellow villagers, he would avoid getting too far away. He had little trouble dealing with the occasional youkai that thought to prey on the villagers - the town was the site of Horyu-ji, the Learning Temple of Flourishing Law; as well as Hokki-ji, the Temple of the Arising Dharma. This strong Buddhist presence meant that there were plenty of powerful monks whom would come and go, so the only youkai whom would venture too close were those that lacked intelligence, or simply didn't know any better - they were often simple little mooks and typically easy to deal with. Speaking of the Buddhist presence in Ikaruga, there are other significant Buddhist temples here as well, such as Hourin-ji. He was mostly familiar with the ones where the elderly Prince Shoutoku was involved, as it turned out that his Inari Shrine was the first Shinto establishment in Ikaruga, and Prince Shoutoku herself deigned to investigate matters. This investigation included Kitaen himself, seeing as he was the apparent motive behind the shrine's construction, even if he wasn't responsible for the event. In many cases, you would think that an establishment of one religion being built within the "territory" of another religion would be cause for uproar, protest, and dispute, but Shinto and Buddhism shared an interesting dynamic that was more peaceful than hostile. Despite being a simple kitsune, he was known for aiding monks on youkai extermination trips in the area, which put opinion of the shrine's construction in his favour - not that he had a stake one way or the other in the existence of this Inari shrine. His apparent identity as a Messenger of Inari also earned him favor with the monks of Ikaruga, and even secured his acquaintanceship with the Prince herself - it was not accurate to say that they were friends, but she seemed to innately understand him on a level that other people did not, so he felt a strong admiration towards her.

He didn't fully comprehend the politics surrounding the Prince on the rare occasions he would visit her, and none of it really concerned him, but he was able to sense that the Prince was hiding something. That is, outside of the battles with rival clanspeople, there was something the Prince didn't want publicised. He later learned that it was simply a matter of her secretly practicing Taoism instead of the Buddhism which she practiced in the open - she would perform supernatural occurrences that gained much fame... at least until she poisoned herself with cinnabar and started fraternizing with an enemy clanswoman over plans to secure immortality for themselves. Shortly after this folly, they passed away and were laid to rest. He was mildly troubled by Prince Shoutoku's passing, but it wasn't like they were friends, so he didn't really mourn the occasion. Life went on as usual for Kitaen - he did what he could to aid the village, and he was granted luxurious treatment in return.

When he was 99 years old, Kitaen observed something strange happening around the village. Occasionally, out of the corner of his eye, he would spy what looked to be a white fox. It would run away around the corner of a building or behind a tree if he noticed it, and by the time he had rushed to investigate, whatever it was had already long gone. He started to stress over the suspicious behaviour and intruder, keeping watch for anything unusual happening around the village, but for all of his investigations, he could find nothing out of place or strange. The humans went about their normal business without issue, though the elders had started to notice Kitaen's stress and worry, which caused them to raise village awareness for trouble. This relieved Kitaen a little, but he was still seeing the white fox on occasion, so his stress continued to mount until his 100th birthday, which caught him completely by surprise.

He had been resting on a cushion under a brazier in the shrine when it happened - his spine rippled and shook with unspeakable agony, which caused him to cry out in pain. A few nearby villagers heard the sound and rushed to Kitaen's aid, but when they arrived they refused to enter the shrine for the scene that was before them. A large white fox seemingly comprised entirely of light and bearing two tails was standing over Kitaen as he writhed upon the cushion from unspeakable pain, and was ordering him with an aggressive voice to leave the shrine of Inari lest he be slain as a false messenger of Inari. The villagers didn't understand - the fox that had always been in the village longer than any of them could remember, the one that had protected them and their children from youkai and bandits - he wasn't truly a messenger of Inari? Was he really an impostor?

They didn't contemplate for long - Kitaen's luxurious orange coat started to change colour, and his back split open, leaving blood to pour all over his cushion and the meticulously polished floor. The orange fur grew dark until it was an inky black, and the brilliant whites bloodied to a malicious red as his claws and fangs grew, and one knowledgeable villager exclaimed with fear his realization.

"Akuko! The fox is an Akuko! Someone send for a monk!" he shouted, tripping through the snow as he fled the shrine and ran through the village.

Kitaen was confused. What was an Akuko? Why was he in such pain? Where did this aethereal fox come from and why was it telling him to leave? Was it the reason for this immeasurable pain? No matter what the case was, he couldn't think much more as his back split apart and a second tail erupted from him in a bloody mess, causing him to collapse on the shrine floor. As his consciousness faded, the last thing he remembered seeing were the villagers he had loved and protected staring at him with horror.


	4. Pillar of Light

He had no way of knowing how long he was unconscious, but he awoke with a jerk to the sensation of his hackles raising almost painfully, and a fog over his brain that made it so it could only form three very specific words. This formulation of understandable thought did so with enough force that they were burned into his mind.

_}Energy. Danger. MOVE!{_

He didn't know or understand how, but every fiber of his being screamed that there was an incredible source of energy building rapidly outside of the shrine, and that he was in immense danger. Without specific instructions, his body acted on it's own, driven by the command of "move", and powered by fear and adrenaline - it shakily brought itself to bear on all fours in an arbitrary direction away from the mounting energy outside, slowly ambling toward a rear exit. Every step felt like a million years of torment, but as his paw touched the veranda outside, every hair on his body stood on end - the energy was being released as a murderous torrent upon the shrine. Time slowed almost to a standstill - it felt like it took years to direct his gaze over his shoulder to see what was happening, and a sound like drops of flaming oil falling endlessly through summer air dominated his ears. His vision filled with a wave of multicoloured light as it plowed through his home as easily as a spear through water - everything that wasn't vaporized by it's touch was promptly set ablaze, even the stone statues. It roared as it ate everything, and Kitaen was dangerously close to it's path. With a surge of strength, all four of his legs fired at once, propelling him off the veranda just as the all-consuming rainbow pillar punched through the exit he had just taken and brushed his side. As he tumbled through the air from his leap and the grazing impact, he watched the light pass him by, after which it veered away from the nearby homes by rocketing into the cold sky above. The energy eventually disappeared without a trace, not even a wisp of smoke went with it after it consumed everything in it's path. As he fell through the air behind his shrine, his eyes fell upon what was left of his home - a massive hole had been blown clear through the entire structure, large enough to ride an elephant through.

Having just barely avoided a terrible fate, his fall completed and caused him to disappear with a puff into the snow, where he lay frozen with fear for the life he surely almost lost. His home now engulfed in cleansing flames and his mind completely at a loss of understanding for everything that had just happened, he just stayed put. This was more because he couldn't sort through his pain and thoughts well enough to delegate energy to basic motor functions and flee, but the cold snow numbed the wound on his back, which felt like a godsend. A portion of his fur was missing, seared off by the ravaging light that just destroyed his home, but he had his life. As he lay here, he wondered what he had done to deserve this reaction from his fellow villagers.

_}Was it the white kitsune? Where did it come from, anyway?{_

He couldn't help but draw conclusions between the current disaster and the appearance of the white fox. He wanted to blame it for everything that had just happened, just to have a direction to point any feelings of anger he would surely develop soon. It had appeared in his life out of nowhere, and behaved suspiciously enough to make him and the villagers sit on the edge of their seats in wariness, but without a clue of what they were being wary of. Now that something completely unusual has happened, everyone was ready to cast blame - it just so happened to be that Kitaen was the target. He adjusted his head slowly and carefully to get a view of his body.

_}Two of them. Why do I have two tails?{_

His focus shifted slightly - he was still staring at the pair of tails where there had previously only been one, but now he was noticing something else. Hesitantly, he gave the fur on his fore paw a single grooming wash-over with his tongue - it was all he needed to refute his worry, but instead of calming him, it stirred his agitated mind further with yet another question.

_}This isn't soot and blood… why has my coat altered so drastically?{_

He once again thought of the white fox - had it acted suspiciously on purpose, knowing that it would agitate him, and by association, the villagers as well? Did it intentionally commit actions to bring about the destruction of the life he had lived? Was it the cause for his new colours and strange transformation, or was this something that would have happened regardless of the white fox's presence? Was there anything he could have done to prevent all of this? While his mind cycled through all of these questions over and over, seemingly unable to enter the stage of thought that considers possible answers, his subconscious slowly came to realize one thing.

_}I have died.{_

His gaze cast over his front paw as if confirming his own existence, as his thoughts continued unabated.

_}Perhaps not in the traditional sense that one might expect, but no matter how I look at this… my life here has ended. It didn't matter if that light had sent me to oblivion or not, this is no longer a place for me. I must steel myself… and flee.{_

He clamped his jaw shut so as to prevent himself from crying out in pain, and collected his limbs beneath himself. It was agony to disturb the injury caused by the production of his second tail, so he took a moment to close his eyes and breathe. Moment passed, he poured energy into his legs and commanded his body to stand up - to which it obeyed. The snow he had disappeared into was quite deep, but it was fresh and light. He would not be able to get to the top of it, nor would he be able to traverse it with leaps like would be normal for this circumstance, so he closed his eyes and pressed his nose forward into the snow. He would tunnel his way under the surface - not only was it truthfully his sole option for movement, but it would also obscure him as he fled from whatever had produced that supernatural energy that was clearly intended to destroy him.

Slowly, agonizingly, he pushed forward under the shimmering surface of the snowdrifts. As he did, his ears caught snippets of conversation from around the shrine, and the footsteps of several people traipsing through the snow to investigate the back side of the shrine. He kept moving, but listened intently.

"**Is… is it gone?"** stammered a woman's voice. It sounded like the lady who sold sweets over the weekends. A girl's voice responded, stern and strong with experience well beyond the years her voice implied.

"**No, I don't believe so. I don't sense any evil or malicious intent in the area, but I also didn't sense the youkai being slain, either. I'm quite convinced that the shrine was empty."** Said the girl, who somehow also sounded rather womanly or brusque in tone. "**As such, it seems that I have a hunt on my hands. Please instruct your friends, family, and neighbors to stay indoors and not invite anyone or anything inside until one of my fellow monks gives you the all-clear. This will be my first youkai hunt as a disciple of Hijiri-sama, and I will attend it with diligence - it is possible that I may not return. Take care of your lives."**

"**O-of course, Toramaru-san! We wish you the best of luck in your pursuit… please exorcise that creature. I can't believe it had been fooling us all along like that… we trusted that creature, thinking it to be a messenger of the gods, and it turns out to be… be this Akuko beast? It probably devoured the soul of the kind old man who used to live just beyond the fields - I'm just glad that it didn't get to those gentle girls he had to leave behind!"** The sweets shop lady again.

_}Creature? They won't even call me what I am now?{_

He paused to contemplate that thought. What exactly was he now? Twice now, he'd been called an Akuko, but it sounded like a bad thing, and he didn't want to be thought of as bad. While he considered this, the one identified as miss Toramaru spoke again.

"**Return to your homes, quickly now!"**

Her voice spurred him back into action with renewed ardor - she was hunting for him, and he had no idea how skilled of a tracker she was, so he needed to put distance between himself and the lady monk. Painfully, he nosed his way through the snow in a direction away from the last position of her voice. He managed to sneak his way out of Ikaruga in this fashion, burrowing through the deepest snow until he found himself at the edge of a forest, where the snow wasn't deep enough to burrow through. He paused before going further, and elected to obscure himself under a pile of snow. He still needed to heal before he could truly flee, and she hadn't been able to locate his trail yet near as he could tell, so he thought to sleep and rest now that he was no longer within the town. If he was lucky, he would start to heal during the wait.


	5. The First Hunt

He later awoke to the sensation of sunshine on his fur and the sounds of distant feet crunching through wet snow falling upon his tall ears. Carefully, he opened an eye to find that he had been asleep long enough for a lot of the snow he burrowed through had melted. The cold, biting chill of snowy weather, grey skies, and wind had been replaced by the subtle warmth and chirping sounds of spring, even though snow was still present. The sounds of footsteps in the snow were still quite some distance away - as his eye adjusted to look in the direction, what he saw brought him to full wakefulness.

The path he had tunneled through the snow during his escape from the village was highlighted clear as day. The snow had melted along his route and caused it to stand out as a green river of grass cut through the white fields of snow - and someone was following it. Someone with a tall walking-spear gripped firmly in her left palm to steady her stride, and a strange orb fashioned like a pagoda held upon her right palm like a guiding light. Her cropped, cadmium hair was striped with sable and topped by a lotus ornament; it swayed gently upon the spring zephyrs like fine grass as she strode along his previous path. Her sharp yellow gaze glued to the trail of green which marked his route, and the determination with which they sparkled told him very clearly that she was the monk whom had declared her hunt for him. She was taking this task very seriously, which meant that he too must take this seriously if he valued his life.

_}This is thoroughly unpleasant.{_

He thought to himself as he watched her from afar. She couldn't see him yet because he was fairly hidden near the trunk of a tree on the edge of the forest, but it would only be a matter of moments before she could practically step on him. He needed to collect his bearings and flee once more. With a heavy sigh, he directed his gaze across his haunches and body to inspect his injuries.

_}...What in blue blazes..? What is going on?{_

He stood up and gave himself another once-over, but his bafflement only increased.

_}I have been healed of my wounds? Whom has performed this deed?{_

In his confusion, he directed his gaze to the only other person within sight - that is, the bhikkhuni hunting him.

_}Was it her? Did the lady-monk do this?{_

He stared at her for only a brief moment, contemplating the likelihood of his thoughts. Once again, the determination in her eyes and posture cleared a path for his thoughts to give way to action.

_}It could not be her. For now, I must flee once more - I will have plenty of time to think on this later and discover my aide… and when I do, I must aim to thank them properly, so as not to waste the chance they have given me.{_

With that, he turned upon his heel and made his escape, bounding through the forest. He lamented that he was leaving behind a trail of pawprints in his wake, but he had neither the time nor means to obscure them, so he simply meant to use speed in order to put some distance between himself and the monk. Around and between trees he went, taking every opportunity he could manage to obfuscate his passage by taking a winding and elaborate route, as well as crossing through patches of green and wading along an icy stream for as long as he could bear.

The day continued like this, with him stopping only twice for food and a quick drink. He did not encounter the monk again, to his relief. He must have been asleep for a fair portion of the early day, because it was not long before dusk covered the lands. The forest quickly became dark and nearly unnavigable, so he contemplated bringing his woodland flight to an end for the time being. He slowed his pace to look for a suitable spot, and soon found a rabbit's den. When he came upon it, his years of aiding the hunters of Ikaruga paid off - he recalled that rabbit warrens tend to have multiple entrances, and if he was skilled enough, he would be able to capture himself a meal. He carefully prowled the area nearby, and found two more entrances to the warren. He quietly and carefully packed snow and ice into them, then returned to the first one he found and started to widen the tunnel to fit his frame. He paused every minute or so to listen, and it wasn't long before he heard the scurry of paws further inside - there were several rabbits in this warren, which could be a problem. He only needed one, and the others might put up a fight if he encountered all of them at once. He backed out and started making the tunnel just a bit wider so that he could easily rush out.

He dug his way around in the warren for at least an hour and didn't come across a single rabbit - they must have all fled into side-tunnels to try and stay out of his reach. Trying to sniff them out didn't help much - the entire warren smelled of rabbits, which made matters difficult for tracking down what he supposed would be his next meal. With much effort and earthmoving, he finally cornered and dispatched a screaming rabbit, which triggered all of the others to thunder out of the warren and flee in a rush - this was fine as they didn't all round on him, so he dragged his spoils to one of the main chambers.

_}Well, now I have food, I just need to try and cook it.{_

He thought this with a pang of dismay as he looked down at the fresh corpse. He only knew of ways that humans prepared and ate their meals, which was troublesome as it immediately drove him to wonder how he would produce a fire without opposable digits. Leaving his meal in the chamber of the warren, he crawled out into the snow and looked around for something to use as tinder.

_}I remember the hunters sometimes cutting pieces of bark from the trees… I should try that.{_

He scanned the moonlit forest for nearby trees, and selected a few to harvest from, then strode over and fumbled with using his claws to peel chunks of bark away for a few moments before a derisive puff of humor produced a white cloud from his lips.

_}Heh. How fitting that I am now left up to my own devices after so long of having everything handed to me.{_

He continued to gather bark for a while, and brought it all to the warren, where he shuffled it all into a pile… and stared at it.

_}Actually… I have no idea how the hunters made their fire out in the woods. As far as I understood, they clicked their hands together and sparks came out, like some kind of magic.{_

He looked down at his front paws. The claws had elongated uncomfortably, and he flexed them a bit until tiny furrows were scrawled in the dirt beneath them, but it was clear that they were very sharp and held a metallic luster almost like lead. They would certainly get in the way, but he adjusted himself to balance on his haunches and put his front paws together experimentally. He positioned them over the pile of bark, and thought to "click" them together like he observed the hunters doing - unfortunately for him, he didn't have any knowledge of the technique he was recalling, where one strikes flint to steel on tinder. Figuring it to be magic, but not understanding the art itself, he assumed that it was just a matter of willpower - if you think hard enough and with enough desire and belief, it would simply work. So he tried it. He separated his paws, then swiped one over the other, and solidified his demand for heat and flame.

_}Come on… burn..!{_

To his surprise, it worked. As his paws flicked together, a thin swirl of deep red flame spilled from between his paws and landed upon the bark. Just like he watched the hunters do for years, he inhaled, then he exhaled upon the flames, which caused them to flare up and soon fill the warren with mild warmth, driving the late winter chill out. He briefly inspected his paws - he didn't expect to have an aptitude for this fire magic learned from the hunters, but he expressed his gratitude nonetheless.

_}Thank you, hunters of Ikaruga, for your skills and the allowance of this meal that they have provided.{_

With this, he brought the rabbit over. He gave a mild grimace as it occurred to him that his elongated claws would be useful for rending flesh, before using them to skin and dress the rabbit. He had to rush out of the warren and grab a few sticks to kebab the meat and prop it near the fire so that it would cook, but it wasn't long before he was stuffing his face with rather delicious cooked rabbit.


End file.
